The Last Parking Spot on Lovers' Lane
by ambiguously
Summary: All Zeb wants is to find a nice quiet spot to make out. This is not as easy as it should be.


It started over dinner. If Zeb were being honest with himself, it had really started a long time ago, sometime between crash-landing on that moon and the feeling of relief that flooded him when they'd snatched the lifepod right before hitting hyperspace as they'd fled Atollon. The time he'd stopped being angry at Agent Kallus and started thinking of Alexsandr first as an ally, then as a friend. Tonight started over dinner, though, in the mess shoved up against pilots and ground crew grabbing some food.

"Any idea where the next base will be?" asked someone. Some new pilot, Zeb didn't know his name. The Rebellion picked up new strays all the time. When they lived long enough, he figured out who they were.

The woman next to him worked in Requisitions. Altooa, Zeb thought, though he couldn't remember her rank. Ranks never made much sense around here anyway. She said, "We're stocking up on warm coats. Place your bets."

Alexsandr glanced at Zeb. He'd been sitting in on more and more upper level meetings, moving his way up in Rebel Intelligence. Zeb was used to reading his expressions these days. Altooa was onto something. Instead of saying anything, Zeb sat back. Under the table, a boot was slowly rubbing up and down his calf in a pleasant manner.

The pilot jostled Alexsandr with an elbow. "You know anything?"

The old Kallus would have taken the opportunity for a sarcastic remark about how much more he knew than this green fool ever would. Even now, his eyebrows raised.

Zeb cut in. "You know the drill. He could tell you but then he'd have to kill us all for listening, and we're still eating up the last poor souls he blabbed to." He punctuated this with a big bite of his dinner. That drew a laugh all down the table, and a worried look from their new pilot friend. The boot disappeared from rubbing Zeb's leg.

"I'm sure we'll all find out soon enough," Alexsandr said, and finished up his meal with a few bites. Zeb swallowed the last of his own food, following him to the washing-up area. Trays returned, they left the loud mess hall together for the lower volume of the rest of the base.

"You all right?" Zeb asked.

They passed a supply compartment. Alexsandr palmed the entry pad open. Confused, Zeb followed. The moment the door slid shut, strong arms had grabbed his head and were pulling him in for a deep, wet kiss. Oh, right. Humans were really big on the whole mouths thing. He was learning.

Alexsandr broke away, breath thick. "Sorry, been wanting to do that for the last half hour."

"You could have said. I'd have eaten faster."

"It upsets your stomach, and I didn't want to be in a small compartment with you after that." He was smiling again, a warm, teasing smile Zeb enjoyed every time it came out. They'd been building their slow way towards whatever this was, tripping over each other's unexpected cultural touchpoints. Humans liked mouth things, hotly pressing them together, or dragging lips over skin. Lasats mated upside-down, clenched to one another as they held onto their chosen perches with their feet. The two of them hadn't worked out the last part yet, but it was worth taking their time now. Yesterday, they'd found a little alone time together in a supply closet, and things had gone very well. Zeb wasn't used to using his hand that way, wrapped with a warm but loose grip around the curiously hairless skin, drawing up and down with a firm friction. The delightful moans Alexsandr had made before spilling wetly all over Zeb's fist had been well worth trying something new. This was all new. He liked it.

"You know," Zeb said, "we could do that thing again we did last time."

"I was having the same thought." Mouths again. Zeb was getting used to this, however weird he thought pushing their breathing holes together might be. He moved his jaw for a better angle, and sucked in against Alexsandr's tongue. This earned him a groan almost as loud as yesterday's. Zeb filed the information away.

Hands moved over his shoulders, kneading into the fine fur before dropping to his waist and working the catch to his trousers. Alexsandr's fingers moved under his waistband, sliding down. Their eyes met as Alexsandr pulled back and went to kneel. Zeb suddenly had a lot of ideas about mouths.

The door opened.

Instantly, Alexsandr was upright and Zeb's trousers were in place. They weren't fastened, but you couldn't have everything.

Altooa paused halfway through the door. "Sorry, Commander," she said. Commander?

"Apologies," Alexsandr said, smoothing his hair with a nervous hand. "I was simply showing Captain Orellios the, er..."

"Save it," she said. "Get a room somewhere else." She waited as they filed past her. Alexsandr wouldn't meet her eyes. Zeb waved as they exited the storage room.

The corridor was empty. Just as well. Alexsandr coughed. "My quarters aren't far from here."

They weren't close, either. Zeb wasn't worried about the other Rebels they passed by as they walked, but he could tell his friend, co-conspirator, and whatever else he was becoming had issues. "What's wrong?" Zeb asked, as he saw the blush.

"Nothing's wrong. I simply don't want them assuming why we're headed back to my quarters."

"We spend time in your quarters a lot. We spend time together a lot."

"Yes, but this time we're spending time differently." He waited until another cluster of mixed humans and non-humans passed by. "I don't want them to know what we're doing."

Zeb shrugged. "I don't know what we're doing, either." Finding a place to hang upside-down for a while would be tricky. They'd have to stick with mouths for now.

They reached the sleeping quarters. Alexsandr led the way in, then halted. He had three bunkmates in his small room. All three of them liked Zeb, welcoming him over for a game of sabacc or a friendly evening of chatting. That wasn't an issue.

"What?" Zeb said, then poked his head in. "Oh." Two of Alexsandr's bunkmates had found a bunk and were figuring out their own mating issues. Successfully, if the noises were anything to go by. "Well, good, they've already got started, and they left us the other side of the room."

Alexsandr grabbed his arm and steered him out of the room, shutting the door behind them. "We are not going in there now."

"If you say so." He scratched his head. "We'll go back to my room. I don't have to share currently." Part of him had been leaving a space in their cabin for Ezra, for whenever he got back from where he'd gone. As long as there was a bunk held for the kid, he'd eventually figure out his way home, or so Zeb chose to believe. Alexsandr had spent plenty of time hanging out on the ship. None of that time up to now had been alone in Zeb's quarters with him, out of Zeb's firm conviction that the kid would be back soon.

But Ezra probably wasn't getting home tonight.

Alexsandr let Zeb lead the way towards the hangars. This base was carved into the rock beneath tall cliffs that disguised their location from surface scans. The entrance caverns dotted across the cliff face had been expanded to hold their third of the fleet. The _Ghost_ sat in one of the largest caverns, surrounded by X-Wings and a few smaller carrier vessels. They'd changed bases a lot over the years, but he could always spot the _Ghost_ among hundreds of other ships without even trying.

He led the way up the entrance ramp and inside. He thought about calling out to let Hera know they'd come aboard, but if he didn't, then they could go straight to his cabin, and that held a definite appeal. Get inside, lock the door, finally get a good look at the human male beside him, preferably naked. Zeb hadn't felt any interest in seeing naked human males before. Another new thing.

They reached the crew compartments. Zeb stared. Chopped had just finished removing the door to Zeb's cabin. "What in blazes are you doing?" Chopper beeped that he was repairing the door and it would only be an hour or two, and some people should appreciate routine maintenance more.

A naked human male ran by them. Not the one Zeb had wanted to see, and only half-human to be precise.

"Hera!" Zeb shouted towards the cockpit. "Why's the little bogan naked?"

Hera came out of the cockpit. "Because he just finished his bath and doesn't want to put his pants on."

"No pants!" said the kid, and ran away from his mom, giggling. Chopper chased after him, grumbling.

Hera sighed. "Every time." She followed Jacen and Chopper towards the the lounge. The giggling grew louder.

Zeb glanced at his cabin, but without a door, there wasn't much point. "I should go help her catch him. Won't be a minute."

"By all means," Alexsandr said. They followed Hera. Jacen had climbed onto the sofa and was bouncing. Zeb nodded to Hera, going to the left as she went right.

Jacen had yet to work out the logistics of counteracting a simple pincers movement. He saw them coming, looked at Zeb with an open-mouth smile, then made big toddling steps towards his mother. He waved his hand in front of her. "Cookies!"

Hera frowned. "Young man, you are not to try Jedi mind tricks on me to get treats."

He giggled and did it again. "Cookies!" She grabbed for him, swinging him up into her arms. He melted into the hug.

"You need clothes."

"No clothes!"

Zeb said, "You could trade. Offer him a cookie in exchange for putting on some pants."

"Oh no," Hera said, shifting her grip on Jacen. "If I bribe him with food now, he'll grow up to have an unhealthy relationship with his meals, _and_ he'll have learned he can blackmail me with nudity. It's cute when he's two. It'll be disturbing when he's twenty-two."

Zeb would've done it anyway, and assumed by twenty-two, he'd know better. Still Hera had a good point. She was trying her best with the kid, spending her free time reading up on human and Twi'lek child development, and digging up what little she could find about hybrid children. At the least provocation, she could and would lecture for half an hour on expected delays in developmental milestones and common medical problems. Zeb figured the kid would figure it all out on his own schedule, and if he took a while to get there, so much the better for the rest of them. The day he worked out complete sentences, he was going to be trouble. He had already worked out how to levitate Chopper.

Alexsandr said, "My parents would have threatened to give me a thick ear if I didn't get dressed." Zeb and Hera both stared at him, horrified. He added, "Which looking back was not a good parenting technique and I think you're right."

Jacen went still. He waved one little hand and in a very serious voice for a two year old, he said, "Cookies."

Zeb snorted. Hera sighed and patted his head. Alexsandr turned and went into the galley. They watched him retrieve the container of cookies. Zeb pulled it out of his hands before he could hand it to Jacen. "Give me that."

Alexsandr blinked. Then he glared at Jacen while Zeb went to put the container back.

Alexsandr asked, "How does he know how to do that? Skywalker hasn't been playing with him again, has he?"

"No," Hera said, sitting down and keeping the squirming toddler on her lap. "Jacen's been doing things he shouldn't know how to for a while now."

Alexsandr looked at Zeb, who didn't say anything. Yeah, the kid was using his powers without anyone around to show him how. Sometimes when Zeb passed by his room, he could hear Jacen chattering away in long baby-talk conversations, and he was almost sure someone else was in the room with him, even when Hera and Chopper weren't aboard, or were elsewhere on the ship. It was weird.

Skywalker had a big interest in Jedi, and had asked them both loads of questions after he'd first shown up. Hera was good at avoiding answering questions she didn't want to. Zeb had never understood much of the Jedi stuff anyway. But Skywalker had asked them what he could, and he'd looked into things on his own, and he'd said, well, something about how sometimes Jedi came back. Their spirits lingered on in the Force, offering guidance to those they'd left behind, though you needed the Force to hear what they said, or so Skywalker seemed to think. Zeb didn't get any of that, either. But he wondered, and he kept his mouth shut.

Mouths were for more interesting things these days anyway.

Zeb said, "Try to get some pants on him, yeah?" He nudged Alexsandr. "Come on."

"No pants!"

Hera said, "You're leaving again? You just got in."

His eyes caught on the entrance ladder to the excursion shuttle. "We were going to run a diagnostic on the _Phantom II_." That sounded plausible, and would count as being helpful as long as they remembered to do it. Also, there was an airlock between the ships. Less noise that way.

Hera followed his gaze, and she took in his company. "It's not very comfortable in there."

Alexsandr said, "What do you mean?"

"The first _Phantom_ was much better suited for sex. You wouldn't think so, but it was very cozy. The _Phantom II_ isn't set up right. Believe me."

Alexsandr opened and closed his mouth like a fish. Zeb said, "My door's off its frame, and his room on the base is occupied. Do you know how hard it is to find a quiet spot alone when you're surrounded by other people day and night?"

"Yes."

Alexsandr said, "We're actually having this actual conversation." He sat down and rested his head on his arms on the dejarik table.

Jacen said, "Birds!"

They were inside and nowhere near a viewscreen. Hera said, "What birds, sweetheart?"

"Baby birds!" He bounced in her arms.

Alexsandr said, "I meant to tell you. That raptor that built the nest up beside the command room? Her eggs started hatching a little while ago. I was watching through the window."

Jacen giggled again. "Baby birds!" They all looked at him for a long moment. Zeb could see the same look on Hera's face that he was sure he wore on his own. Sometimes the kid knew things he couldn't, and sometimes, the Force let Jedi come back to whisper in the ears that could hear them. Maybe it was weird, and maybe it was a little sad or even creepy, but maybe you just did the best you could with what you had. Zeb understood that just fine.

Hera said, "If you put your clothes on, we can go see the baby birds. Would you like that?"

"Yes!" She put him down. He scooted towards his cabin.

"Chopper," Hera said. "Go to the cockpit and set yourself into charging mode until I get back." Chopper grumbled and rolled off after Jacen.

Hera patted Zeb on the shoulder. "I'll take him out to watch the birds and take a walk around the base for a while. We'll be gone for about two hours."

He waited for her to shimmy Jacen into his shirt and pants. As she took his hand to walk him off the ship, Zeb thought maybe Jacen's other hand was folded as though holding someone else's hand to the opposite side as they made their way, but that might be his own imagination.

Alexsandr took a deep breath as the hatch closed. "Have you told her anything else about our, er..."

"Sex life?"

Now his face was bright red. "I wouldn't say it that way."

"Neither would I. We haven't had any sex."

"Who else have you told?" He looked almost angry.

"Told what?"

"About us! This!" If he face got any redder, he'd explode.

The last half hour replayed itself for Zeb. "Are you mad people know about what we're doing?" No, he'd been around humans a lot. This face was a different one than angry. "Are you embarrassed?"

"No!" His shout carried through the ship. Good thing the hatch was closed. Otherwise someone might think they were back to killing each other in here. Alexsandr rubbed his hand through his hair unhappily. "Yes. A bit." He saw the growing shock on Zeb's face, and read it pretty well the first time. "I'm not embarrassed by you. Don't think that."

Zeb sighed deeply. He'd spent time around humans and other species, but this was his first stab at a relationship with one. Regular relationships had trouble. From observation, he'd learned that interspecies ones took an extra effort at explaining things to each other. "I don't have the Force so I can't read your mind. Why don't you tell me what you're thinking? All right?" He tried a smile, which he hoped didn't look too much like a snarl. People got confused sometimes.

"I am not embarrassed about you, or about us, or about what we're doing together. I don't like just anyone else knowing yet."

"Yeah, I think that ooda is well out of the bildog. I didn't tell Hera, if that's what you're worried about. She figured it out on her own. The more we get seen together around the base, the more people are going to figure it out."

"I know." He sat down at the lounge. After a moment, Zeb joined him, sitting at the other end of the curve so they could look at each other. "It's not that I mind them knowing. I haven't done this before." He glanced up at Zeb. "Specifically, the part where I'm with someone I like and admire and..." There were some other words he was stumbling over behind those, and not yet ready to say. "That's new. Before you, before this, I've never had anything more serious than keeping warm at night. I don't want that now. I want to do this right. And I don't want other people peering over my shoulder while I figure out how to do all of this right with you." He grumbled, for a moment sounded very much like an irate astromech. Zeb was savvy enough not to laugh. "I'm not sure I'm making any sense."

"No, I hear you. The thing is, this is a small ship, and the base doesn't feel much bigger. Neither did the last base. I shared my cabin for years. Guess I'm used to everyone being in my space all the time and knowing everything that's going on with me, sometimes before I do. That doesn't bother me."

"Right. It's something I need to get over."

Zeb reached over, placing his hand over Alexsandr's. "Yeah, but not all at once. Like I said, it doesn't bother me, but it bothers you. That's enough for me. You want to slow down so we're not bumping into three other people every time we start kissing, that's fine." He tried another smile. "But I want to remind you that right now we've got the ship to ourselves for about two hours. That's a lot of time not to bump into anyone else."

"Your door is still off."

"There's no one else aboard except Chopper, and he's plugged in."

He felt Alexsandr's hands twitch under his. Fear? Worry? No, the look on his face was a mix of pleased, hopeful, and calculating. Zeb was proud of himself. Usually he didn't manage to get three in one go. He really was getting good at this whole sorting out human emotions thing.

"Two hours, you say?"

"Yeah." And why not? Ezra said he could have the top bunk back for now. It was time to use the extra space. "You ever hang upside-down by your feet?"

Alexsandr glanced down at his boots. "No."

Right. Human feet were bad for dangling. "Then we'll work something out. Come on."

They made it back to the cabins. The door was still off, and Alexsandr stared at it, worry growing on his face again. But Chopper was plugged in and powered down, and Sabine wasn't even on the same planet, and Ezra was out there somewhere, and even if the _Ghost_ did have a ghost, that spirit would be off whispering bad jokes about baby birds elsewhere on the base right now.

Zeb took his shoulders and pushed their mouths together, the way humans enjoyed so much. Alexsandr's worries melted. Zeb pushed him, a little roughly, into the cabin. They wound up on Zeb's bunk, still kissing, pulling at their clothes while Zeb ticked over various ideas. There wasn't much grappling room in here, and only one of them could use their feet. He'd seen a few holos in his day, and this had always been a small ship without much privacy. Zeb had a good picture of how humans mated, and a few ideas about mating Wookiee-fashion, one on his knees and the other behind. Those were both ideas he wanted to explore later.

For now, he liked these human ways but burned for Lasat sex. Instinct told him he really wanted the blood rushing to his head now, as Alexsandr's hand stroked him.

"I need to get my feet up," Zeb said, breathless.

"You keep saying that. I can't hold myself up that way, and if you try to hold me, we'll fall."

Zeb muttered to himself. He knew that, but he was frustrated.

Then Alexsandr smirked. He had a dirty smirk that Zeb used to want to punch off his face. "Climb up."

"You just said you can't do that."

"No, but you can." He backed away, letting Zeb get out of the bunk and make his way up. "Go on."

Zeb held on, toes firmly in place, body trembling in new excitement. Then Alexsandr grabbed onto the top bunk with his arms, and stood in front of Zeb.

And mouths, well, mouths turned out to be the best things ever.


End file.
